some politician who, however honest he may be, is so interested in his own plans and methods that he has no clear oversight of the broad field of political action. How much better and more profitable it would be if with these practical views they could get and could keep in mind some general ideas upon the nature and methods of government that have been thought out by so sane and temperate a thinker as is Mr. Sidgwick!
This book aims to give, as we learn from the preface, a discussion of the "chief general considerations that enter into the rational discussion of political questions in modern states." The author wishes us to get in mind, so far as possible, the ideals toward which we should look as legislators and as citizens. It is not enough to consider things as they are: we must also, in considering man as he is in a civilized state, see what ought to be in government, in order that man may readily work toward his own welfare, and thus toward the advancement of civilization. As is to be expected from one who says that his " general view of politics was originally derived from the writings of Bentham and J. S. Mill," and who has in good part rested upon Bentham in his conclusions, while the point of view is ethical, it is distinctively utilitarian. What the state ought to do, means what it ought to do to promote the general happiness of the citizens.
The method of such a work must be, of course, not historical, but, in the main, psychological; and the conclusions rest upon the nature of man as he is seen to be in the most civilized states of to-day. Reasoning chiefly from these premises of man's nature, the author is too able and careful a man to think that his conclusions are directly applicable to any one society of to-day, or that they are more than ideals toward which we may work. Though, for example, he suggests that the direct intervention of the voters in government is desirable to settle a disagreement that has resulted in a deadlock between two legislative chambers, he would hardly be ready to advocate a hasty application of this principle in Congress to-day in order to settle the tariff controversy. He thinks that the term of office of a representative in the Legislature should be from five to seven years. We might not agree with him on this point; but a member of the Constitutional Convention that is soon to be held in New York ought not to neglect a consideration of the reasons that he gives for his opinion, and should see how far such reasons are valid in this state at the present time, and how far they may be applicable.
The book, as is logical, considers first the scope and methods and fundamental conceptions of government, its specific acts of intervention in the enforcement of contracts, the righting of wrongs, the maintenance of the governmental organs, the conduct of business with other states,
